May 16, 2005

Racked with guilt, I’m off to China…

Two weeks ago today Linda was diagnosed with labyrinthitis, with one symptom being vertigo. Too dizzy to walk, violently sick, she called 911 and spent the night in the ER alone, because I was in New York working on the next item. Last Monday my company announced a $36B merger with Duke Energy. The time leading up to that was crazy. The first question I get from everyone is whether or not I’m moving to Charlotte (no). And I’m taking off today for China??? What am I thinking?

This marathon couldn’t be coming at a worse time. This project was a heckuva lot more fun to plan than execute. And there’s no quick way to do the Great Wall of China marathon – you must be there in advance for a pre-race Wall tour or you can’t do the race, so I can’t fly over Thursday, do the race on Saturday, and return on Monday.

However, if there’s a good weekend to be leaving, it’s this weekend. Yesterday was Katherine’s graduation from Gettysburg College, and the weekend before that was consumed with pre-merger announcement work, so I should consider myself fortunate….this weekend provides a break in the schedule. And instead of embarking on a two-week, post-graduation, East coast party trip, Katherine has agreed to come home to be with Linda this week since Linda still doesn’t have her balance back. So maybe things are turning out for the best.

PS: Being in “Faces in the Crowd” in Sports Illustrated has driven my jock kids crazy – they can’t believe their old Dad was included!